blonde poker forum

Yo people,

I am definitely going to be playing the World Heads-Up Championships 2008, held in Barcelona starting on 21st October. (Full schedule details here (http://www.pokerineurope.com/majortournaments/schedule.php?tournamentid=2008062))

I am willing to sell up to 45% of myself in this tournament.

30% has already gone, there was a lack of interest at the rate I was asking before, but I'm afraid 1.15 is the best I can offer based on what I sold the 30% chunk for.

The buy-in is €2500+125


Price:

£25 (€30) = 1% share
£125 (€150) = 5% share


Experience:

I am essentially a heads-up sit and go specialist online. My inital poker bankroll was built up from playing these on Blue Sq (when it was on Tribeca) around 3 years ago. I ran £500 into £25,000 or so playing these tournaments ($100-$1000) in only a few months.

I have had my stints playing other games, but heads-up STTs have often been my bread and butter, especially for the last year or so. Since February 2008 I have played 2000 Heads Up STTs on Boss Media.

http://www.sharkscope.com/index.html?username=Atkinator&network=boss (poker.co.uk username)
http://www.sharkscope.com/index.html?username=theMBK&network=boss (Poker  (http://www.pokertrillion.com/?bonus=blonde) Trill (http://www.pokertrillion.com/?bonus=blonde)ion (http://www.pokertrillion.com/?bonus=blonde) username when it was on Boss)

Blue Square bought me into this very event the previous two years. In 2006 I made the third round, last year I only made the second round (this isn't why they aren't sponsoring me this year, I just haven't played on their site since they moved to iPoker much!). I realise this isn't a dazzling record, but it does make me 3-2 in this event at heads ups, and 60% would be a very good winrate for online STTs.

I also played the $5000 Heads-Up event at the 2007 WSOP. Went out in the 2nd round to the guy that eventually finished 3rd (to be fair I lost with 88s vs JT on and 89x flop).

So I also have a fair amount of experience at live heads ups, and this particular structure.

There's no doubt it my mind that I am +ev in this tournament, most of the field that plays aren't used to deepstack heads-up poker.

Also it's worth noting that you need 3 wins for the cash. If you assume a 60% chance of winning each game that's 0.6x0.6x0.6 = 21.6% ... I'd say that's better odds than in a standard Multi-Table tournament where 10% of people cash.


This tournament:

Will be 128 Runners making a €320,000 prizepool. This was the prize structure last year:

1st - €125,000
2nd - €60,000
Semi-Final - €25,000
Quater-Final - €11,250
Fourth Round - €5,000


Payment:

Preference is by bank wire, but will also accept Full  (http://blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/12206)Tilt (http://blondepoker.com/index.php?q=node/12206)/PokerStars transfers. Will accept payments up until the 20th October when I leave. I will be playing whatever happens so don't need to wait to sell the full 45% to sell individual shares.


Links:

You can access my blog (where I write a lot about heads-up STTs) here (http://blogspot.atkinator.com)
Hendon Mob Database page is here (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=53177)

I will blog heavily while I'm there so you can keep up with my progress!

Feel free to ask any questions or drop me PMs :)

Cheers,
James (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=184) Atkin (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=184)

Easy now, don't all rush in at once! :)

Would be interested to know who's gonna be in Barca for this, I know Dan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86), Stuart (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421) Rutter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=421) and Jeff Kimbler are attending. Flushy mentioned a wedding he's going too sadly :(. I know Mickey (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=283) Wernick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=283) loves this event anyone know if he can make it??

Ok have changed the details a little. Only gonna sell 15% more now, and have reduced the rate I was asking...

I'll take 10% for €300

Tyvm dude!

Just 5% left then...

ill take the 5%

Lacking on posts there pokerfan, sorry.

Last 5% sold via PM.

Recieved this today so looks like all is set for a couple of weeks time...


Good afternoon James,

we received your payment, thank you. I confirm your inscription to the
World Headsup competition.

Best regards,



Sylvie Bélanger
Casino Barcelona

glglglglglgl

good luck james.

Thanks chaps...

3rd time lucky!

Hey Flushy, are you still in on this or have you decided against? Have sent ya a couple of PMs but no reply...

Let me know :)

Yep still on, i got 300E for you will try and pass it to someone going

;goodluck; MC - get it won!

Okay man that's cool, thanks


Cheers Kinbo ;)

Quick update - I have apparently got drawn against a 'reserve player' so don't know who I am playing.

However I do know this 1st match is 2moro at 3.30pm (Spanish time)

Good Luck James :)up

+1 

+2

Good luck mate, will pay you collect from you when i see you

Lol, okay man that's cool, certainly hope it's the later!

No big names in the tournament from what I could see of the draw. 6 Brits I noticed. Me and Jon Wong are in Bracket C. Dan Carter & Jeff Kimbler are in Bracket D. Dave Penly is somewhere in the draw too. I could actually play Jon in the 2nd round if we both win, which is a bit of a shame...

Was keeping my fingers crossed I was going to get a bye cos I was drawn against a blank box, but all the blanks in the first two brackets got filled up before play started to day so imagine thats just wishful thinking!

Some kind of lame news. It seems its only out of 64 players this year. Guess they didn't manage to fill it in time. I'm not sure if there was any guarantee on the prizepool, but I imagine it means the prizepool is halved. Will try and find out what the deal is with how prizes will be distributed.

Thanks for the good luck wishes. Will report back on how first match goes 2moro...

Flushy get's so many pms on his pc that he needs a pa.

gl james. give em hell

All the best for tomorrow James.

Good Luck James

Spoke to Shoreman he hasn't decided yet but probably 8 places paid.

gl u2.

[X] Getting a PA

thought that was what rookie was for

It is a bugger.  Wish I was in Barcelona...

;)

Good luck James!

any updates on this>?

Cheers Jamie! Yup yup update from today just got into my hotel room...

I made it through the first round which is very pleasing!

My first round opponent (Raul (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1283) Paez (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=1283)) was tough. I just looked him up and saw that he came 3rd in a WPT for $300k a couple of years back, went deep in the WSOP main event this year, and apparently is #2 on Spain's all time money list!!  (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=s&n=3436). Probably best I was unaware of this until now, cos the most I knew was that he was a good player based on the early stages of our match....

I took a small lead in level 1 (100/200...22,000:18,000) just with small pots. But then an ugly phase in level 2 (150/300) where he was picking off c-bets, made a couple of 3 bets preflop when I had TJ and such. I also made a call with ace high thinking he was weak, but he tabled bottom pair. So we're now 12,000:28,000 and getting a bit concerned.

Rallied back though. Started to get paid off with hands on the "He mucked after calling when I bet with bottom pair" and "Every time he bets he seems to have nothing" image. I let him bet into me flop and turn on KQTx with K8 and value bet the river and got paid off. And called a bet on AKTx with J4s after turning the flush draw, and got paid off when I hit the river. So midway through level 3 (200/400) I'm back to a slim lead, about 23,000:17,000.

Can't say my winning hand involved much skill though. He had raised me the last 2 times I'd limped on the button, and had probs done it 1/3 of the time overall. So I decide to limp with Qc Qh. Of course he checks this time(!). Flop comes Qd Jd 7d. He checks, I bet 500...he raises me to 1500. I repop it to 4000. He calls. Turn is the jackpot card. The 7s. He checks, I whack in 4500 and he shoves. I insta call and he shows down a rather sick Ad 2d. But I'm certainly not complaining about the cold deck in my favour.

So I go on to play Jon (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=218) Wong (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=218) tommorow. He went through his match in all of 10 mins. He was playing a really old guy though, literally 80 years old. Didn't get to hear how he went through.

Dan (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) Carter (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=86) also took his match down. He made a very nice call down on Q43Q2 for a 25,000 pot or something after calling a raise preflop with AT otb. Dude had 3 barrelled with KJ. Incidentally he plays the brother of the guy he beat today in the 2nd round.

Jeff Kimbler and Dave (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=113) Penly (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=113) both won as well (just did some googling and apparently Dave came 2nd in €1000 FO last night, but it only got 29 runners).

Ironically Dario Minieri, who must have been favourite to win this based on his heads up record on Poker Stars (he's up $500k or something sick, right?) was I believe the first player to bust in today's session.

Both 2nd and 3rd round matches are played tommorow. I'm still not sure what's happening with the prizepool. I believe at least 4 players recieved byes (100% that 2 players did yesterday, I will double check what happened today), and I imagine this will affect the prizepool as I'm not sure there was a guarantee on the tournament.

More Queens full vs nut flushes for me tommorow please!

good start james. Well played & good luck for the next round.

niiiiiice, win the lot.

+1

Wiiiiiiiiiiiii keep it going!

gogogo dude

gl sir!

Gl m8

Nice one. Hope it doesn't all go Wong tomorrow.

Lol, me either!

Thanks for the support guys. Hope today goes well!!

+2

wp MC, best of luck for today!

Good start....now win it all.

Sorry for late update the hotel's inet is playing up big time have managed to get on using iPod touch but typing isn't the most fun so will do full report later.

It's bad news I'm afraid. Although I won 2nd round I lost in the 3rd. 1 before the cash.

 I beat jon wong in the 1st level. Had to wait a good 3 hours to play 3rd round match. Just before 5th level kicked in I was on about 11k. Had fought hard to keep head above water after a cold run of cards. Will go through hands when I can use laptop but losing hand was this. He limped for 600. I checked my 49o. 974 rainbow flop. I check, he bets, I raise, he whacks his stack of thousands in. I couldn't call quick enough. He cheers before any cards flip so I'm thinking oh shit. Sure enough he had the old 97 off.

Have to admit I'm gutted about this one. Thought it was my year and with 3 backers a result would have made me feel good.

Dan "how good do I run in this tourney" carter went thru to quarters, jeff went out 2nd round sadly, dave penly won in 2nd round but not sure how his 3rd round match went.

Will follow up when I can, sorry to report back with bad news...

unlucky james.

Very unlucky James, good effort.

Maybe one day you'll run as good DAn "one tournament a year" Carter.Good luck to Dan in the quarters!

Good effort getting to the third round. Unlucky in the end.

Bad luck to Jeff Kimbler in this too - relative of Paul maybe?

Hoho good one rutter.

Hand of the tourney. Blinds 300/600 scandie min raises his button and I repop to 3400. He insta calls.

Flop 866. I check and he fires 2500. I go allin for 10000 and he snap calls, high gives his bro and screams "boooooooom"  I sit there silently for a while giving this svandie some time to celebrate before flipping 88 :)

MBSFN

^^This was entertaining. I was railing at the time waiting for my match...I made sure I shouted out "booooom" when I saw Dan's hand...

Sorry I haven't been on to post more detail, internet in the hotel was dodgy. Got back last night though, so will get onto it soon and will do a full blog post on the tourney...

Incidentally the guy that beat me in the third round (Mauro Stivoli) went on to win the whole schabang. Looking back, I had a mega tough draw.

Hi m8 you wanna PM me your bank details or stars/tilt account and i will ship you your funds.

What did he have?

He had 67 suited...

Here's a copy of my blog post I just wrote out from http://atkinator.blogspot.com


Last week I certainly enjoyed myself in Barcelona with fellow pro Dan Carter and both of our girlfriends. With the side events getting very few runners (a consequence of the last-minute putting together of this tournament which also saw the main event only get 59 runners instead of the usual 128), I didn't really play all that much poker in this week...only the main event itself.

So I was totally focussed on the main event. My 1st round match went well. I was happy to draw a person I wasn't aware of called Raul Paez (although having looked him up since I see he has amassed $1 million in tournament winnings!)

I took a small lead in level 1 (100/200...22,000:18,000) just with small pots. But then an ugly phase in level 2 (150/300) where he was picking off c-bets, made a couple of 3 bets preflop when I had TJ and such. I also made a call with ace high thinking he was weak, but he tabled bottom pair. So we're now 12,000:28,000 and getting a bit concerned.Rallied back though.

Started to get paid off with hands on the "He mucked after calling when I bet with bottom pair" and "Every time he bets he seems to have nothing" image. I let him bet into me flop and turn on KQTx with K8 and value bet the river and got paid off. And called a bet on AKTx with J4s after turning the flush draw, and got paid off when I hit the river. So midway through level 3 (200/400) I'm back to a slim lead, about 23,000:17,000.

Can't say my winning hand involved much skill though. He had raised me the last 2 times I'd limped on the button, and had probs done it 1/3 of the time overall. So I decide to limp with QQ. Of course he checks this time(!). Flop comes QJ7, all diamonds. He checks, I bet 500...he raises me to 1500. I repop it to 4000. He calls. Turn is the jackpot card, the 7 spades.  He checks, I whack in 4500 and he shoves. I insta call and he shows down a rather sick A2 of diamonds for the flopped nut flush. But I'm certainly not complaining about the cold deck in my favour.

My 2nd round match was over much more quickly. I was up against Jon Wong, not someone I know that well, but someone who I have a lot of time for on the circuit, and who I know is a very adept player. I was hoping the first hand wouldn't be a bad omen on how the game would go, after inevitably losing chips with 66 on a T3348 board against his 77.

I was a little worried he had a read on how I played after he layed down what I know was a reasonably strong hand on a J43J8 board when I made it a little too obvious I was strong (I infact held JT).

His aggressive style would certainly have been tricky to contend against if I didn't get a little fortunate in a pot in the first level. I made my first button raise to 550 (100/200 blinds, stacks about 23,000:17,000 in my favour at this point) with 66, having limped the previous time I had it. He repopped to 2200. I almost layed down here, thinking I could wait for a better spot. But I figured the implied odds here made this a call. The flop came 834 with two clubs. I'm very wary of this flop because of the possibility of an overpair. However his check surprised me, and led me to believe he had more of an AK type hand. I checked behind and, bingo, the 6 hit (not a club). He led out for about 4500, and I decided a shove disguised my hand best here. He made the call and flipped 63 off for 2 pair. I have to say I was surprised at his hand. He certainly wasn't as strong preflop as I was imagining! The case 6 was the only hand where I win all the chips here, so I was very fortunatew with that. He said he was going to check raise-shove the flop which would have been very strong, and just got unlucky that I was canny enough to check and hit THAT turn, as it is so hard to put me on a set there. Another cold deck in my favour.

Sadly it all ended one round before the money in the 3rd round. I actually lost to the eventual champion Mauro Stivoli. (It would have been difficult to have found a tougher 3 opponents to have played in succession in this draw!).

Early doors, he won a few small pots to take a lead. I fought back, winning my fair share of pots to put me up about 23,000:17,000 in chips. Then this hand came up. He limped on the button and I made perhaps only my 2nd raise out of the big blind. Perhaps I should have raised more than the 700 I did (blinds 100/200), but with QQ you tend to want action. The flop came an ugly A57 with 2 spades. He check raised my 900 bet to 2300. I almost mucked...but when I analysed the hand I didn't have him for an ace (based on his previous play) so I called.

The turn brought the deuce of spades. He checks, and with the Q of spades I am happy to check behind. The river brings a red King. He leads out for almost the size of the pot. I tanked here. This might seem like an easy fold but I went through what hands he might have here. Putting it all together I ruled out him holding an Ace. I also ruled out a flush. Based on previous hands I was sure he'd bet less and might even lead out the turn. My gut feeling was he had a 7, and that the only hand he had that beat me was something like K7 suited. So after a fair few minutes, I made the call. He flipped over 57 offsuit. This was a big call to make with QQ, and obviously it was the wrong one. However I feel I analysed the hand correctly, I just didn't think about the possibility of him calling with this hand preflop.

The rest of the match I had to scrap for every pot I could. I was relying a lot on making bets and raises with nothing...because that's exactly what I had 95% of the time. One such hand I bet a black 67 offsuit on a QJ3 board, all hearts. He called. I checked behind on the brick turn. The river brought the 8h and I fired at it, and he folded his Queen face up.

However inevitably he took a lead with me hitting nothing, and was up about 26,000:14,000 when this came up at 300/600. I limped with A8 off as he had been raising a lot out of the BB and I was potentially intending to raise if this happened. He checked behind. It came an A37 rainbow. He checked, and I decided to check behind, as he had been firing the turn almost every time I checked in this spot. This time he checked though, so I fired 1,000 into the pot. The river brought a very blank looking 3. He checked again. 9 times out of 10 I'm value-town betting here, but my gut instinct told me to flip my cards over to signify a check. This is exactly what I did, and he flipped over a very ugly 23 offsuit. I can't help thinking that although small, this pot was quite significant.

We swap stealings of big-blinds for a little while and then my elimination hand comes up right at the beginning of the 400/800 level. I have about 11,500 chips at this point. He limps in. I check behind with 49 offsuit. The flop comes a 479 rainbow. I check raise him, he moves all-in. I almost flipped my cards over before calling I was so happy to get the money in there! I managed to say call before doing so, but when he fist pumped and shouted "yes" before even seeing my hand I assumed I was dead. And I certainly was as he held the old 79 offsuit, and I missed my 2-outer. This time it was a cold-deck against me...

I was told later on that "at least I lost to the champion". That's little consolation when he's nursing his €65,000 prize while I missed out on the €5,600 which would at least my cut of would have paid for the week (I was giving away 45% to backers, which I appreciate guys, thanks) and a shot at the big time!

Nevermind, I had a really good week in Barcelona, and since I've been back I've been running pretty good on some juicy limit FL hold 'em games in the €2/4 - €5/10 range (I needed a break from heads up). I'm still trying to discover what I should spend my time playing, but it's possibly I might give MTTs a whirl for a little while, something I've never done seriously. I've signed up for pocketfives.com to this end, although I have yet to get playing.

I still have a bit of sponsorship in the pocket thanks to poker.co.uk, so I will be looking at playing at least one live event in November, and might even venture out there with my own roll!